


Drop Your Guard

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Series: Flufftober 2019 [14]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, mundane AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 14:45:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21037931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: Alec insists there's no way he's ever going to get into the things that Simon likes, but he can only pass by the comics set out and the movies left on in the living room for so long before he gets a little curious... he just can't let Simon know.





	Drop Your Guard

**Author's Note:**

> Flufftober Day 14: Roommates

When Alec needs help covering rent and Clary offers her friend Simon up as a potential roommate, Alec has his doubts. 

“I just don’t think rooming with your ex is a good idea,” Alec says. 

Clary gives an eye-roll fit to rival Alec’s usual specialty facial expression. “Stop calling Simon my ‘ex’ when you know we’re best friends. And you’ve met him a few times! You liked him!” 

“I absolutely did not,” Alec insists. But he also didn’t totally hate the guy, and outside of his siblings Alec’s friend list is pretty short and the idea of resorting to a random craigslist ad to split the rent isn’t ideal, either. “Fine. But if we hate each other and I kick him out and it ruins your friendship forever, you can’t blame me.” 

“I absolutely can,” Clary counters, mimicking his own dramatic phrasing a moment before with a slight smirk. “But it won’t. I have a good feeling about this.” 

\---

A few days later Simon Lewis is dragging a guitar case and a duffle bag into Alec’s - no,  _ their _ \- apartment. 

“I have a good feeling about this,” Simon says, and Alec takes a deep breath over the sense of deja vu that declaration gives him. 

“Yeah, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Alec agrees, which isn’t quite the same as having a ‘good’ feeling, but it’s close enough. 

And it was fine… for approximately 45 minutes. 

And then Simon found out Alec had never seen Star Wars. 

It took all of 5 seconds before Simon had a DVD in his hand, making his way over to the television. 

“What are you doing?” Alec asks. 

“We’re going to watch it. Well, the first one, at least. There are the three originals, and then then three-”    


“Let me stop you right there. One, I have plans today. And two, I don’t want to watch one of those ridiculous movies, let alone  _ six _ -”   
  
“It’s actually nine once we get to the new-” 

“You’re not helping your case,” Alec informs him. “I’m sorry. I just have  _ zero _ interest in them. Or comic book things, before you get on me about those,” Alec adds for good measure, to avoid this turning into a second conversation later. 

He’s already grabbing his keys and his jacket, heading towards the door before Simon can try and convince him to say. 

“Fine. You win for now, but it’s only a matter of time. You’ll see!” 

Alec isn’t sure if that’s meant to sound like a promise or a threat, or maybe a little bit of both, but he just shakes his head as the door closes behind him. 

\--- 

Over the next few months Simon tries again and again to get Alec to sit down with him in the living room and watch movies. When that fails Simon resorts to having either Star Wars or some superhero movie or another on the television in the living room at any given moment. Alec catches bits and pieces in passing, and after a while stops actively avoiding the living room and starts pausing for a few minutes here or there if something catches his eye, or sitting down for parts of a movie here and there when he’s bored. Hilariously enough (to Alec, certainly not to Simon), Simon seems even  _ more _ upset when Alec only catches a middle or, heaven forbid, the ending of something, rather than the entire movie. 

When Simon realizes that Alec just isn’t the sort of person to sit and watch a movie on a whim, even if it’s a movie he  _ does  _ care about, Simon switches up his tactics and starts leaving comic books strategically around the apartment. Alec knows what Simon’s doing, and for a while he refuses to so much as touch one. But one day while Simon isn’t around his curiosity gets the better of him and he picks up the Captain America comic Simon left on the kitchen counter while he’s waiting for the timer on the oven to go off. It isn’t that bad, even if it isn’t what he’d normally pick up to read, and he finds himself making a mental note of his ending spot when the oven beeps and he puts it down to eat. 

When he finishes that one he has a very serious internal debate over what to do next, stubbornly not wanting to give Simon the satisfaction of knowing he was successful, but also suddenly desperately wanting to know what happens next in the storyline he stopped in the middle of. Thankfully the second volume is one Simon leaves in the living room next. The third one, however, he has to sneak out of Simon’s collection, careful to return it back into the sleeve without any sign it’d ever been removed. 

He lingers a little longer during the movies after that - especially ones with War Machine, because of a single clip of him having more common sense than everyone else in the entire ensemble cast put together. If Simon notices he doesn’t say anything, and Alec doesn’t realize how convenient it is that the same Iron Man movie seems to play more often for him to catch all of over the course of a few days. 

...Alec sneaks one onto his computer to watch the second with headphones on, putting it back on the DVD rack before Simon gets home. He multitasks it with a few other things, but he mostly watches it from start to finish, and realizes the flaw in his plan to keep his new obsession a secret from Simon: he wants to talk about it with someone.

Alec manages to not say anything for two more days until he’s passing through the living room to the kitchen and hears Simon say very loudly to Clary, “If only Captain America and War Machine weren’t so boring-” 

Which prompts an instinctive, “It isn’t  _ boring _ to be responsible and have a modicum of common sense in the face of Tony's brash--” from Alec before he stops short, realizing what he’s done by the smirk on both Simon and Clary’s face.   
  
“AHA!” Simon shouts, jumping over the sofa to rush to Alec’s side. “I  _ knew _ you were the one putting those comics back out of place.” 

“I put them back where I got them!” Alec insists. 

“You put them in  _ backwards _ . I have all the tops facing to the right of the box,” Simon says. Alec realizes he must’ve been in such a hurry to get in and out of the room without getting caught he might’ve overlook that particular detail when returning the comic to its sleeve. 

“You know, it’s okay to like things, Alec. I dare say, it’s very  _ American _ of you to cave to a few social norms.” 

“Please stop,” Alec pleads.   
  
“I'll stop on one condition: you join Clary and me for Iron Man 3 tonight,” Simon says. 

Alec hesitates, sure he can come up with a million excuses if he wants to, but finds himself nodding instead. Now that he's dropped his guard he isn't particularly eager to put it back up. “Alright, I’m in.” 

Maybe this whole roommate thing might be good for him after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> (Find me on [Tumblr](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com) and also on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/By_The_Angell)! <3 )


End file.
